For me the second half (or so) was what made Fight Club more than just a motivational story and a proper classic, precisely because it went off the rails. The

For me the second half (or so) was what made Fight Club more than just a motivational story and a proper classic, precisely because it went off the rails. The way I see it, the first half asked questions and explored various problems in society that many of us see and experience. It was cathartic and motivational. But the second half was more of a warning. If we can't replace the things we reject with something 'greater', the result is ugly. I credit Fight Club for helping me turn to various life philosophies (stoicism among them, and in particular Buddhism) rather than hedonistic abandon or angry nihilism, or something like utopian socialism, because I sure as hell didn't want things in my life to become some variation of the second half of the movie.